Taiwan External Trade Development Council
News Release No. 5, 2013
Taiwan Excellence Gold Awards 2013 Continue to Highlight a Wider Range of Outstanding Local Industries
Fitness equipment, machine tools, and automobiles join ICT and bicycles as the island's most recognized sectors.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. TAIPEI, TAIWAN, April 24, 2013 –The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) today announced the ten winners of the prestigious Taiwan Excellence Gold Award at a gala ceremony in Taipei, supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan), organized by the Bureau of Foreign Trade and attended by leaders from different industries.
Whereas awards in past years primarily centered on ICT (information and communications technology), the 21st annual awards highlighted the widening diversity of products being considered for the distinction, such as machinery, automobiles, and fitness equipment. A panel of international judges with expertise in the five key criteria of evaluation for the awards – R&D, design, quality, marketing, and Made in Taiwan – decided they all deserved gold. In order to receive the award, selected products must be seen by the judges to demonstrate innovalue ("innovation + added value") in each of the above categories. Republic of China (Taiwan) Vice President Wu Den-yih presented the gold awards to the ten winning companies.
Typically known for its ICT products, Taiwan is also one of the top producers of bicycles and fitness equipment in the world. Among those firms once again selected for the Taiwan Excellence Gold Award were bicycle makers Giant and Merida, who won for the ANYROAD and Warp TT bicycles, respectively. Sports Art Industrial Co., Ltd, meanwhile, received the award for its environmental Green System Elliptical, whose innovative design harnesses human-generated power from exercisers and feeds it back into the power grid as useable energy.
Leading brands from Taiwan's lesser known but highly competitive industries such as machine tools and automobiles also rose up to catch the Gold award this year. Machine tool maker Hiwin won for its Crossed Roller Bearing Series, while local car manufacturer Luxgen took home the Gold for its Luxgen5 Sedan. In a unique cross-industry partnership, Luxgen teamed with local smartphone maker HTC Corp. to develop the car's unique THINK+ Touch system, which provides consumers with a new level of convenience in onboard computers.
Returning Taiwan Excellence judge and iF International Forum Design GmbH President Ralph Wiegmann noted how the awards continued to showcase a broader range of lesser known but no less important Taiwan industries, such as machinery. For example, machine tool maker Hiwin returned to win another Gold Award, this time for its Crossed Roller Bearing Series.
Taiwan's outstanding credentials in ICT were still showcased in this year's awards. PC maker ASUSTeK, for example, once more received a Gold award this year for the Padfone 2, a tablet smartphone and tablet combination that is lighter, smoother, and more elegantly designed than its predecessor. And HTC Corp. made the list for its HTC One S smartphone.
Other prize winners in the ICT segment this year included the Travel Cloud Router from networking solutions maker D-Link, the 65 Inch Quad Full HD Slim Type and Narrow Bezel TV Module from Innolux Corporation, and PhotoDirector 4 from multimedia software producer Cyberlink.
INPEX International Jury President and R&D judge Andrej Skrinjar discussed how the awards bring together an outstanding array of products.
"I follow a lot of countries and lot of events like [Taiwan Excellence] from USA to Europe, said Skrinjar. "But a collection like this I have never seen, one with so many world-renowned companies. And research and development is a very key point of those companies."
Taiwan Excellence Marketing Judge and Partner at TrueBrand consultancy in San Francisco Martin Brandt, meanwhile, praised this year's winners as world class products, though suggested that Taiwan companies still had space for improvement in their branding.
Prof. Seijiro Oshimura, Managing Director of the Management Research Institute in Tokyo and Taiwan Excellence quality judge, spoke about how Taiwan products are quickly gaining in prominence in overseas markets.
"The quality of Taiwan's products have increased to the point of their becoming highly competitive in their respective fields," said Oshimura. "It's very difficult to maintain first place, but brands such as ASUS and Merida have already overshot their Japanese counterparts to become no.1 in Japan."
However, Oshimura added that he hoped the range of Taiwan Excellence Gold entries could continue to become more expansive to include a greater number of Taiwan's exceptional small and medium-sized enterprises.
Taiwan Excellence Gold Award Winners
Product Model Number Company
PadFone 2 A68 ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
PhotoDirector 4 Ultra CyberLink Corp.
Travel Cloud Router DIR-505L D-Link Corporation
ANYROAD ANYROAD Giant Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Crossed Roller Bearing Series CRB Series HIWIN TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
HTC One S Z560e HTC Corp.
65 Inch Quad Full HD Slim Type and Narrow Bezel TV Module V650DK1-LS1 INNOLUX CORPORATION
Luxgen 5 Sedan Luxgen 5 Sedan LUXGEN Motor Co., Ltd.
Warp TT Warp TT MERIDA Industry Co., Ltd.
Green System Elliptical G872 Sports Art Industrial Co., Ltd
Taiwan Excellence Silver Award Winners
Product Model Number Company
TAICHI TAICHI21 / TAICHI31 ASUSTeK Computer Inc
HD PoE Outdoor Cube Network Camera DCS-2310L D-Link Corporation
Wireless N 360° Home Network Camera DCS-6010L D-Link Corporation
Admiration - Lotus and Kingfisher vase FZ02939 Franz Collection Inc.
Agehana maraho vase FZ03065 Franz Collection Inc.
Avail Advanced SL Avail Advanced SL Giant Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
BT4024DV11 Disc Type Tool Magazine B4001-024DV11-GF0020 GIFU ENTERPRISE CO., LTD.
15.6" Blu-ray Gaming Notebook P2542G GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
GTX 680 Super Overclock Series Graphics Card GV-N680SO-2GD GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Super Slim LED HD-42MB3 / HD-46MB3 / HD-55MB3 HERAN CO., LTD.
HTC One X S720e HTC Corp.
4.3” OLED Display PE043ZE-D1Z INNOLUX CORPORATION
E-Big Nine – 29er Big Nine E-Lite MERIDA Industry Co., Ltd.
3 SPEED FOLDING BIKE EVO KS3 MING CYCLE INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Wireless-N Gigabit Long Range Ceiling Mount Dual Concurrent Access Point EAP600 Senao Networks, Inc.
SpareOne Emergancy Phone SpareOne Phone TennRich International Corp
Company Website
Asustek Computer Inc. www.asus.com
Cyberlink Corp. www.cyberlink.com
D-Link Corporation www.dlink.com.tw
Franz Collection www.franzcollection.com.tw
Gifu Enterprise Co., Ltd. www.atcgifu.com
Giant Manufacturing Co., Ltd. www.giant-bicycles.com
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. www.gigabyte.com
HERAN CO., LTD. www.heran.com.tw
HIWIN TECHNOLOGIES CORP. www.hiwin.com.tw
HTC Corp. www.htc.com
INNOLUX CORPORATION www.innolux.com
LUXGEN Motor Co., Ltd. www.luxgen-motor.com.tw
MERIDA Industry Co., Ltd. www.merida.com
MING CYCLE INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD. www.mingcycle.com.tw
Senao Networks, Inc. www.engeniusnetworks.com
Sports Art Industrial Co., Ltd. www.sportsartfitness.com
TennRich International Corp www.energizerpowerpacks.com
About Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA)
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) was founded in 1970 to promote Taiwan’s foreign trade and competitiveness in world markets. Over the past 40 years, TAITRA has played a key role in the development of the Taiwan economy. TAITRA is jointly sponsored by the government and commercial associations and is viewed by all as the business gateway to Taiwan for the international business community. Please visit http://www.taiwantrade.com.tw/ for more information.
About TAIWAN EXCELLENCE
A recognized name of innovation with added value, Taiwan Excellence is the highest accolade awarded to products that encapsulate innovalue. The Taiwan Excellence Selection was launched in 1993. Taiwan Excellence winners not only represent the most revolutionary, high quality, high value added products made by Taiwan. They epitomize Taiwan’s unique genius in using innovation to create added value in the design and manufacturing of leading-edge products. Please visit http://www.taiwanexcellence.org/ for more information.
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Phoebe Lee
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Jonathan Seidman
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